1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of combustion furnaces and methods of use, and more specifically to improved submerged combustion melters and methods of use in producing molten glass.
2. Background Art
In submerged combustion glass melting, combustion gases are injected beneath the surface of the molten glass and rise upward through the melt. The glass is heated at a high efficiency via the intimate contact with the combustion gases. The melter exit may be connected to a conditioning channel. Using submerged combustion burners produces violent turbulence of the molten glass and results in a high degree of mechanical energy in the submerged combustion melter that, without modification, is undesirably transferred to the conditioning channel. Given that long life is a goal for submerged combustion melters and conditioning channels attached thereto, this transference of mechanical energy from the melter to the conditioning channel is a significant detriment to that goal. While transference of mechanical energy from the melter to the conditioning channel is a detriment, and could be eliminated entirely if the melter were physically decoupled from the conditioning channel, it is also desired that the heat contained in the submerged combustion melter be fully or nearly fully transferred to the conditioning channel. So in some respects these two goals are at odds, presenting a challenge to operators of submerged combustion melters not present in conventional melters (i.e., not a submerged combustion melter).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,777 discloses a conventional, non-submerged combustion glass melter having a water-cooled throat, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,376 discloses a conventional, non-submerged combustion glass melter having a water-cooled skimmer. As neither of these references discloses submerged combustion melters, the problem of mechanical energy transfer from the highly turbulent melter to the conditioning channel is largely non-existent. In fact, due to the significantly less turbulent conditions of conventional glass melters, conditioning may actually begin in the glass melter.
It would be a significant advance in the glass melting art to develop melter exit structures between submerged combustion melter vessels and conditioning channels that are able to reduce or substantially eliminate the transference of mechanical energy from the submerged combustion melter vessel to the conditioning channel, while maintaining a minimal glass temperature drop for the glass flowing between the submerged combustion melter and the conditioning channel.